


The Love You Deserve

by 221blackandwhitestripes



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst with a Happy Ending, Boys Kissing, Episode: S03E08 Blood Rush, First Kiss, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, I Wrote This Cause I Was Angry, Love Confessions, M/M, Murder, Oswald is me, Physical Abuse, Season/Series 03, Short & Sweet, Unrequited Love, mentions of emotional manipulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 07:30:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14183997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/221blackandwhitestripes/pseuds/221blackandwhitestripes
Summary: Edward finally returns from breaking things off with Isabella, only, as Oswald discovers, absolutely nothing went to plan.





	The Love You Deserve

**Author's Note:**

> I finally edited this. I don't know how good it is because I am bone-dead tired and can't feel my feet, but... You know. ANYWAY, this is pretty much 'cause I'm still mad Isabella did this and this is how I vent. I hope it's alright and y'all enjoy it. I'm going to go to bed.

Oswald sat by the fire, nursing his scotch and swimming through deep thought. Edward plagued his mind, a mixture of worry and apprehension curdling in his stomach at the thought of him, all alone, in Isabelle’s apartment. Isabella. Whatever. 

He glanced up as a flash of dark green passed through the edge of his vision.

“Ed,” he called, setting his glass down quickly as Ed stopped in the doorway. He scanned Edward’s impassive expression, searching for a trace of grief or (hopefully) closure. “How’d she take it?”

“What?” Ed asked, facial expression sliding into confusion before snapping to understanding. “Oh! Oh, um, uh, everything is,” Surprisingly, a large, breathless smile grew on Ed’s face, the light from the fireplace reflecting brightly in his brown eyes. “Isabella showed me that, uhh…” He seemed to search for the right words. “I was worried over nothing.” Ed smiled, a different one from the ones he usually reserved for Oswald. Like he was trying to hide something.

With a lack of response forming on his tongue, Oswald simply stood and walked to Ed, pulling him down into a fierce hug.

“I’m glad,” He said, wishing his voice could convincingly convey the sentiment. He tightened his hold on Ed’s shoulders, hoping that would assure him instead.

And Ed _winced_.

“Ed?” Oswald pulled back to scan his face questioningly, noticing the way Ed’s features purposefully blanked of any emotion. “Is something wrong?”

“I’m fine,” Ed dismissed, having to turn his head to avoid Oswald’s no doubt accusing gaze. It was in the new position of the light on Ed’s skin that Oswald noticed the faint discoloration over his left cheekbone.

“Ed,” Oswald began warningly, his tone dipping into darker, molten territory as a combination of fury and dread washed over him. “What is that?” Oswald stroked Ed’s cheek in reference, his usual inhibitions lowered by the cresting rise of terror in his chest.

Ed winced again.

“Nothing,” he claimed hurriedly, gently pushing Oswald’s hand away. “I’m _fine_.”

“Who did this to you?” Oswald gritted out, hands curling into shaking fists as he struggled to tamp down the sudden surge of rage, so fierce he could feel it quaking in his bones.

Ed glanced up at him sadly through his eyelashes, and Oswald just _knew_.

“Oh, I am going to _kill_ her,” Oswald spat, turning back to the roaring fire as he ranted, directing the heat of it at something just as hot. “She is going to die a horrible, _bloody_ death knowing that she had no right to lay one _finger_ on you. Then I’ll get Strange to bring her back so I can kill her again!” He shouted, arms flying out furiously as he directed his seething words at the walls.

“Please, Oswald, you don’t understand,” Ed pleaded, snatching a tight grip on one of Oswald’s flailing wrists in order to turn him back around. “She was trying to prove that I wouldn’t hurt her. That’s all.”

“She was _‘trying’_ to **hurt** you, to manipulate you into thinking you deserve _nothing_ so her _‘love’_ would be your **everything**!” Oswald shouted, his voice shaking even harder than his hands. Like rumbling mountains with cascading rocks, he felt like he was on the verge of self-destruction. “And she is _so_ unbelievably _wrong_. Edward, you _deserve-_ ” Oswald’s voiced cracked and hissed like the fire behind him as he struggled to maintain his composure, his eyes desperately squeezing shut before he continued. “ _Fuck_ , you deserve all the love of a _god_. You should have statues resurrected in your image, people committing acts of beauty and destruction in your name. You deserve _so much_ , and I can’t bear to- to _think_ that **she** -” Oswald stopped, unable to continue past his choking breaths and watery eyes. “I’m going to _kill_ her! She’s going to **pay** for what she’s done.”

“But, Oswald, I love her!” Ed insisted, not letting go of his wrist.

“Do you?” Oswald asked, and like the eye of a storm, he was suddenly calm as he met Edward’s eye. “Because I don’t believe you. You don’t act like a man in love, you act like a man lying to himself, trying to convince himself that-”

“I love her!” Ed shouted, voice rising over Oswald’s as he took a threatening step closer. “You _can’t_ kill her!”

“She **hurt** you, Ed!” Oswald snapped. “How would _you_ feel if somebody hurt the **one** person that you love?”

Edward paused, eyes distant as he seemed to think Oswald’s words over. They suddenly snapped back to attention, peering wide-eyed at Oswald as a gasp left his lips.

“What did you say?” Edward prompted, eyes searching Oswald’s face for… something.

“I-I…” Oswald floundered, put off by Ed’s new approach.

“What did you _say_?” Ed repeated insistently, taking another step closer.

“I… I can’t-” Oswald swallowed down his sentence at the dying spark in Ed’s eyes. “How would you feel if somebody hurt the one that person you love?” Ed nodded to himself, not meeting Oswald’s eyes. “Look, Edward, we can just-” Oswald began, only to be cut off again.

“Do you mean it? You love me?” Ed asked earnestly.

_Well, shit._

Oswald decided the best strategy was to play it off as something less.

“Of course I love you!” He crowed, trying not to wince at the strain in his voice. “You’re my best friend.”

“Yes, but there’s _more_ , isn’t there?” Ed prompted. When had he gotten so close? Oswald felt like those caged in tigers at the zoo. He couldn’t _breathe._

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Oswald lied, shifting beneath the weight of Ed’s gaze. When had everything become so hot? It was stifling in here, Oswald was practically panting in the heat of it.

“Don’t lie to me,” Ed growled, the rumbling seeming to echo in Oswald’s chest. ‘Just tell me the truth, or I’ll-”

“You’ll what, Ed?” Oswald laughed harshly, his tongue coated in bitterness as he spoke. “You’ll _leave?_ Well, you’re going to want to do that anyway, so you might as well just go.” Oswald paused expectantly, waiting for a response. No one moved. “Go on. **Leave**.”

“Oswald,” Ed began, voice startlingly gentle all of a sudden. “Do you… Are you _in love_ with me?”

Oswald staggered back in shock, a choked gasp escaping his throat as his eyes welled with tears. This wasn’t supposed to happen, especially not like this. There was supposed to be _dinner_ and _candlelight_ the sweet taste of first kisses and the fluttering of butterflies in stomachs.

“No, Ed, please don’t make me-” Oswald pleaded.

“Remember the night after The Sirens? Remember when we sat right there in front of the fire?” He pointed to it almost flippantly, his eyes never leaving Oswald’s. “You remember what I said? Because I meant it. I still do.” Edward swallowed, taking another step towards him. “Please, Oswald. You can tell me.”

“Yes.” The word slipped out of his mouth, a tear following behind to trail down his chin soon after, his clenched fist coming up to brush it away furiously.

“You-you mean you _are_ in love with me?” Ed repeated like he couldn’t quite believe it.

“I… I am,” Oswald confirmed, his throat scratching brokenly. “I’m sorry.”

“Please don’t be sorry,” Ed told him sternly, shaking his head in emphasis. “You… You have _nothing_ to be sorry for.” Oswald nodded, hanging off his words as another tear slipped down his cheek.

“Nonetheless,” Oswald, sniffed, trying to maintain what little dignity he had left, “I still understand if you want to go.”

“No!” Came Ed’s startled voice. “No, of _course_ not! Goodness, _no_ ,” His throat clicked with a swallow as he stared at Oswald with bright, earnest eyes. “Did you mean what you said before? About me deserving the love of gods and everything?”

“That, and more,” Oswald confirmed with a shaky nod.

“Then prove it.” Ed asked him, crowding into Oswald’s space once more.

“W-what?” Oswald asked shakily, shuffling a step back.

“Prove it,” Ed repeated, advancing closer still. “Kiss me.”

“What?” Oswald shook his head, more tears springing to his eyes in the wake of Ed’s sudden, _needless_ cruelty. “No, I c-can’t-”

“Kiss me,” Ed repeated firmly, bringing a hand up to Oswald’s jaw. “But only if you want to.”

Oswald paused, mind slow like molasses as it tried to push through the veil of wild thoughts and abstract emotions and reach the words he wanted to say on the other side. “...I do.”

“Good,” Ed whispered, his breath ghosting over Oswald’s lips as he leaned in. And, before Oswald could question it, they touched, lips brushing softly like a caress. Oswald was hesitant at first, maintaining the soft, sweet pressure, unwilling to take anything more than Ed wanted to give.

“Its okay, Oswald,” Ed insisted, head tipping so his forehead pressed against Oswald’s as they gazed into each other’s eyes. “I want this.”

A whine escaped Oswald’s throat, unbidden, the sound soon smothered by the insistent press of Ed’s lips on his. The gentle swipe of Ed’s tongue sent Oswald quivering, his tiny breaths coming fast through his nose.

“Ed, w-what? What about Isabelle?” Oswald asked breathlessly, breaking away from the kiss. He could scarcely breathe, Ed’s firelit skin swimming before his eyes as Oswald struggled to again meet his gaze.

“First of all, it’s Isabel **la** ,” Ed said, more amused than irritated as he adjusted the perch of his glasses on his nose. “Secondly, I… I have a feeling it would be wise to discontinue my relationship with her.”

“B-because of me?” Oswald asked, his voice embarrassingly reverent as he struggled to conceive a truth in Edward’s words.

“Well, there’s that,” Ed smiled gently, dragging his hands down Oswald’s shoulders in a strangely comforting gesture. “And… There’s also the fact that she just dressed up as Miss Kringle in order to convince me to stay, which was, frankly, quite terrifying.”

“She did _what?_ ” Oswald spat, horrified at the thought that that absolute _harpy_ had dared to use such a monstrously foul manipulation, just so she could have Ed all to herself. “I’m going to kill her! I’m going to _kill_ her! I swear, Ed, if she so much as breathes-”

“I know, Oswald, I know. Just- please think rationally for a second and-” Ed tried, hands gripping Oswald’s shoulders in an attempt to keep him still.

“I don’t _care_ , Ed. How _dare_ she. She doesn’t deserve to so much breathe the same air as you, let alone share your-” Oswald ranted furiously only to be cut off by a pair of gentle, yet very firm and insistent, lips on his. Oswald struggled for a moment, but Edward was relentless, so in the end, he just gave in, sinking into the kiss helplessly. He let Ed’s daring tongue sweep into his mouth, drawing out the sickening rage and replacing it with a luminous desire that dripped down his throat and settled low in his stomach.

A low noise escaped his throat as Ed’s hands slid firmly down his back to grip his hips, pulling him forward with a degree of force that was oddly thrilling. Groaning as well, Ed maneuvered Oswald backwards, guiding him closer to fire before spinning them both so he could sit back in Oswald’s chair with Oswald settled atop his thighs.

“O-oh,” Oswald breathed, the new position making his and Edward’s hips press flush together, offering all sorts of advantages.

“I know,” Ed agreed, recapturing Oswald’s lips to continue the kiss, the searing heat of it leaving Oswald gasping. “I know,” he repeated, his lips moving down Oswald’s neck, pausing to licking and bite at Oswald skin.

“Ed!” Oswald cried with a gasp, his hips accidentally thrusting forward and brushing against Edward, causing him to notice the rather telling bulge in Ed’s pants that matched his own. “O-oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“Fuck, _Oswald_ ,” Ed groaned, his eyelashes fluttering closed as his head tipped back and his chest heaved. Oswald was half-shocked and half-pleased to have caused such a reaction in Edward, having never heard the other man swear in his life. “I-I… I think,” Ed began, seeming to struggle to maintain his composure. “I think it’s best that we go upstairs. Like, _now_.”

“Okay!” Oswald agreed happily, carefully shuffling backwards and, keeping mindful of his leg, standing back up in front of Ed. He stretched out his hand, smiling when Ed took it readily as he stood as well. Ed made as if it to lead Oswald out of the room, only to stop and look at Oswald as if something had just occurred to him.

“Look, Oswald, I know you’re angry at Isabella,” Ed began.

“Downright furious,” Oswald seethed, punctuating it with a press of his lips to Ed’s.

“Yes, well, I completely understand, but I think it’s for the best if you don’t do anything. She has been behaving rather suspiciously, and I think that we should take this opportunity to keep an eye on her to see what she’s up to.”

“Oh.” Oswald drew back, taking a small step away as his cheeks flushed with head.

“What?” Ed asked, an edge of concern in his voice.

“I… may have already given the order to her demise,” Oswald admitted sheepishly, avoiding Ed’s gaze.

“ _When?_ ” Ed asked incredulously, looking at Oswald as if he _didn’t_ have a certificate hanging on the wall, proving his sanity.

“Before you came in,” Oswald confessed with a wince. Edward rolled his eyes and sighed. “In my defence, _you_ told me you were breaking up with her. I was merely ensuring she would never bother us again.”

Ed raised an eyebrow at him, as if to say _“really?”_

“...Would you like me to call Gabe to see if there’s time to cancel it?” Oswald asked after a pause.

“No, don’t bother,” Ed sighed, clearly disappointed. “This clearly means a lot to you, and I can live without knowing if it would make you feel better.”

That was… oddly flattering.

“You’re the _best_ ,” Oswald gushed, swinging his arms around Ed’s shoulders to pull him down into a hug.

“Don’t think you’ll be let off the hook, though,” Ed warned as they both pulled back.

“No,” Oswald shook his head, swallowing against a sudden nervous lump in his throat.

“It seems to me, a crime like that deserves…” Ed paused for his typical dramatic effect before punchlines. “ _Punishment_.”

“Punishment?” Oswald gulped, more heat rushing to his cheeks as he gazed up at Ed.

“Precisely,” Ed nodded, his eyes almost glazed over as he surveyed Oswald. “And I know exactly where to start.”

And, boy, did he _ever_.

**Author's Note:**

> Woo. Okay, I'm tired. I hope to see some kudos or comments when I wake up :-) Thanks so much if you leave one. I'll respond when I'm awake. For now, it's snoozeville for me. Goodnight from NZ.


End file.
